Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Well, that fucking hurt.
I watched the game solo at the venerable Famous Sports Pub. I sat next to some old timer who told me a joke which he said was a "Minnesota Joke." So a blonde walks into a bar and the bartenders says, "Anheuser Busch?" The blonde replies, "fine, and how's your penis?" Brilliant.
Watched the end of the AFC game. Jets hung in there, but in the end Manning and Co. put it away. Much to the glee of 2 douchebag Colts fans behind me.
Here's my summary of the Vikes game: Yes, fuck, yes, fuck. yes, fuck. Halftime. Fuck, yes, fuck, yes. MFMFMFMFMFMFMFMMFMFMFMFMF. OT. F-U-C-K. Somewhere in that time I put away about 55 dollars worth of Stella and managed to mess my cellphone up by spilling beer on it. Got home and passed out.
It'll take a few more days to get beyond ruminating on this one, but life goes on. The Vikes gave us a hell of a ride this year.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Where to began....that is, resume.
October 2009:
Twins get swept by the Yankees who go on to win the WS. Fuck 'em.
Spend a week in Chicago for a conference.....spend way too much time a bar named 'Snickers'. Spend too little time catching up with old friends.
November 2009:
Eat copious amounts of turkey.
December 2009:
Go from Atlanta to Fargo to Vegas to Fargo to Atlanta and mostly maintain my sanity even though we flew out of Fargo in an honest to god real northern plains blizzard. We stayed at Bally's this go around which was decent as we got a jacuzzi suite courtesy of the 20 dollar trick. First night gambling I play some video poker while pounding back glasses of Fosters and score about 250 when I hit quad 2's. Next day is rough as I piss away 50 bucks at slots, lose a $100 buy-in at 1-2NL and lose the winning bet ticket I made on USC over BC. The last night I sit down at a Mississippi Stud table and thanks in large part to making a full house, I walk away up 700 bucks or so. A nice way to end the trip.
Celebrate new years quietly with 1 GF, 2 cats, and a little wine.
Monday, October 05, 2009
A dome full of memories

The Twins play Detroit on Tuesday for the chance to take on the Yankees in the Divisional Playoffs. The game will be played at the Metrodome tomorrow afternoon in what hopefully is NOT the last time they play under the Teflon covered stadium. Yesterday got me thinking of the games I have seen the Twins play there. With the help of baseball-reference.com I was able to track down the box scores for every game I ever went to.
April 28th - 1988: My first game at the Dome was a class trip I went on when the defending World Series champion Twins took on the lowly Baltimore Orioles. I remember very little from the game itself except for the fact that my distant cousin Fred Lynn, who prior to Ichiro in 2001 was the first player to ever win ROY and MVP in the same year, was not in the starting lineup for the Orioles. The Twins ended up winning the game 4-2, prolonging the Orioles season beginning losing streak to a mind-boggling 21 games.
July 29th - 1990: My baseball team was in the Twin Cities for a tournament and we got to watch the Twins take on the Oakland A's. My dad chaperoned a group of us to the game. Jose Canseco and Felix Jose hit bombs in the game, but the Twins ended up taking the game in 6-5 extra innings. My dad got half-lost in downtown Minneapolis after the game, but we made it back to our hotel safely.
July 27th - 1991: In the middle of what would be the Twins second World Series winning team in 5 years the Twins took on the Milwaukee Brewers, which at the time was a heated battle between division rivals. This was the major league debut of Denny Neagle, who had a few decent years after being dealt from the Twins, but perhaps is better known for being caught with hookers, driving while drunk, and possibly being on steroids. The Twins ended up winning in exciting fashion when Dan Gladden hit a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 10th. I remember this well because Gladden's homer hit the foul netting down the left field line.
August 11th, 1992: My dad took me down to the Dome to see the Twins take on one of my baseball idols Nolan Ryan. Coincidentally, this was also opening day for the Mall of America in Bloomington, which actually sits on the ground where the old Met Stadium was. You can still stand at home plate while eating a cotton candy and taking in the goings-on of Snoopy's Knotts Berry Farm, or whatever the fuck it's called now. Inexplicably, my dad and I decided to go to the mall despite the fact that we both pretty much hate malls. I don't remember much from our time at the mall except one of the sporting goods stores was using live mannequins. Nolan pitched well, but the Twins ended up winning 3-2 behind John Smiley's complete game.
June 27th, 1998: My dad, brother, and I couldn't resist making the trek down to the Twin Cities to see Mark McSteriod play in the middle of his record-breaking-syringe-filled-with-juice-injected-into-his-ass season. The three of us went to some shitty bar near the Dome and ate pizza while my brother and I each pounded 3 Leine's like they were going out of style. The Twins took the loss 7-2 as McGwire launched an andro-aided bomb into the left field seats.
April 28th 2001: 13 years to the date of my first Metrodome experience was my last as the Twins took on the Baltimore Orioles again. The Twins took it on the chin 5-2 courtesy of the Orioles. Sluggers Brooke Fordyce (BAL) and Tom Prince (MIN) hit homer in this otherwise uneventful loss for the Twins. This was Tom Kelly's final season managing as he took a young Twins team back into the picture. The nucleus of this team would lead the Twins to AL Central Championships in 4 out of the next 5 seasons. Here's to the Twins winning their 5 Central crown tomorrow.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
All Things
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I made my 6th or 7th trip to vegas about a month ago. Shacked up with 3 friends in the MGM grand. Like the other trips, I managed to end up a loser, but had some fun. We started the trip off with brunch at the Venetian, followed by a tourney at Caesars Palace which saw me bubble out when my QQ all in was called by the only person with more chips than me. He had AK and flopped an A and I was done. I win that and I could pretty much coast to a nice payday. The rest of the day was occupied by playing cheap pai gow at the Trop and imbibing several 7 and 7s. The next morning we all cab it over to the Hard Rock where I win a couple hundred bucks in an hour playing 1/2 NL. The 1pm touney wasn't so kind to me, but weetarded guy (in our group) takes it down for a nice score.
We go back over to the Trop for some cheap Pai Gow and cheap craps. I lose a bit at pai gow, and then proceed to lose 100 bucks on my charter craps session, despite getting the hot hand while rolling and builing my buyin from 20 bucks to 120. The rush of going on a hot streak pretty much made up for the money I lost, but I can't say I'm all that crazy about the game.
We go back over to the MGM grand where I buyin for 100 bucks at a 1/2 NL table. I win a bit early and then pretty much sit there pounding beers and playing tight for 3 hours or so. I go on another small win streak and sit with 200 or so when I get pocket 10s in middle position. I raise to 10 and get 2 callers. Flop comes 10c 9c As and I start to salivate. One check to me, I bet 20, get min raised by the button, which was called by the old dude who checked and I called as well. The turn is the Ac. Old dude leads out for 60 bucks, I push knowing that someone has an A and both people call. Over 600 in the pot and the river comes a Kh. Fuck me...the button, who played the hand like a horses ass, had AK offsuit. Old dude had the flush and I get up and leave. I sit at the bar and down some more beers while pissing away more money on the shitty ass video poker at MGM.
After waking the next morning, we grab breakfast at NYNY at some cafe that has a giant topigraphical map of the US on the ceiling. We play a bit of craps there after bfast before it is time to me to hop on the 4 hour flight back to ATL.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Breaking!
Friday, April 24, 2009
The dirty, dirty.
NHL hockey in my backyard. I only made it to 1 game this year, but having a NHL team where my live is great. Phillips Place is a nice arena and one of the great things is that there is a dedicated entrance to the arena for those arriving via MARTA. I'd like to make it to several games next year.
The MARTA! Especially, how convenient and cheap it is to take to the airport. At some stations you can park your car long term for only a few bucks a day. Beats the 10 bucks/day at the airport lots.
The possibilities I have doing research at Emory are essentially endless. I am only limited by my imagination and motivation.
My morning constitutional. We live close enough to school to walk. I trounce through the woods every morning on my way to work. I've seen several species of birds, deer, old men, dogs, and snakes. Just to name a few.
Milwaukee has, and forever will have, a special place in my heart in terms of the bar scene, but we've discovered some gems here in Atlanta. The Brick Store Pub has a beer list that will make your head spin and really good food to boot. MJQ is basically a garage from the outside that goes down underground into a maze of a dance club. I lost my hearing after spending a night there in February. The Porter Beer Bar in Little 5 Points has a great beer selection and hell of a brunch. The chicken sausage gravy is fucking heavenly. The Corner Pub in Decatur has some really good food and you can usually get a decent bottle of beer for 2 bucks. I'm sure there are many more that I am forgetting or haven't yet discovered.
Food in quick fashion. BBQ. Mellow Mushroom. Willy's. Everybody's Pizza. Atkins Park. Wings at Famous. Edo.
Last but not least, the halfwit who chased us into Publix one night whilst burping uncon-fucking-trollably. Fear and amusement are emotions that you don't often experience at the same time, but I was both afraid of this fucking dude and still laughing at him while he ran after us into the grocery store. He then stood near the checkout while we were shopping, but vanished by the time we checked out.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
2unica - Part 2: Poker is easy
The first hour I manage to win a fair number of pots and double my chip stack in the first hour. At the first break, Johnny is still hanging in while the Shoeshiner went busto. Just before we move down to 2 tables, I managed to take out a player when my AJ outflops his AK. Players keep dropping pretty quickly during the 2nd hour. I manage to chip up when my J6 beat a short stacks 44 on a j65j4 board. We get down to the final 10 and the very first hand I call and all in from a short stack with A6 hearts vs 44. The flop comes KQJ of hearts and I take out another player and am 2nd in chips. 3 more players go busto and we began to discuss a chop. Everyone is pretty agreeable. Me and another big stack take 400 and the other 4 got 300.
Afterwards, I sit down at a 3/6 table to grind out the 5 hours for the room rate. The session is eerily similar to the previous days' as I go up early and manage to piddle most of it away and then some in the next several hours. We took a break in there and hit the buffet before going back to more 3/6. After getting my hours I head down to hit up the let it ride table again.
I go down early in my 2nd session but get hot and am up close to 200 bucks before I decide to hit the pai gow table. I didn't last long at pai gow, as it was boring as hell and the table was empty except for me. I wander around the casino for a bit before catching up with Johnny and heading up to bed.
All in all, it was by far my best gambling trip as I ended up about 1500 bucks or so. I was left with a pretty positive impression of Sam's Town in Tunica. The locals seemed very friendly as well, which in my experience contrasts with Vegas or Atlantic City locals.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Lucky Lucky
I took the Amtrak from Atlanta to Birmingham to meet a few friends on our way to Tunica, MS. The train ride was relaxing, but I think 4 hours at that pace is just about right. Anymore time on the train would have been a drag.
We took off for Tunica Saturday morning and arrived at Sam's Town about 1pm. After check-in we all took seats at a 3-6 hold'em game with seven other players, most of them were over 60. I started out hot and doubled my buy-in after a few hours, but managed to give all that back and more before quitting after 5 hours or so. We had an unspectacular dinner at one of the restuarants and I went to play some Let It Ride, while Johnny and The Shoeshiner watched. After a bit The Shoeshiner joined me. I lost most of my 100 buyin and went to the ATM to reload. I came back and bought in again. The dealer, whose nametag said 'Stocks', kept giving me shit about not playing the bonus bet. I told him it was a bad bet in the long run, and that it wouldn't be there if the house didn't make money on it. I got some dirty looks as everyone else at the table was playing the bonus bet.
Not long after explaining why I don't play the bonus bet, I decided to put my first one out there. That very hand I was dealt 2-4 of hearts which paid me 40-1 on my 5 dollar bonus. I get plenty of shit from the people at the table. The next hand, I shit you not, I get rolled up 10s. Trips paid 30-1 on the bonus, and the first card he flipped up was the case 10 paying me 50-1 on all five of my bets. Those 2 hands made me +1K for my session and I was in happy town. I took off for the bathroom a few minutes later and when I get back I learn that the guy immediately to my left was dealt rolled Qs. I'm pretty sure someone would have killed me if I was there for that hand. The Shoeshiner and I play for a good bit before Johnny meets us and we hit bed.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I can has mental problems
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Sign of the Times - Vegas Part II
After lunch we headed back to the Planet Hollywood to kill some time before dinner. My girlfriend napped, while I took the time to get my PH players card and place a bet on the Packers (+4) over the Bears. It was an emotional bet, as I was hoping to see a Green Bay win meaning the Vikes clinching the NFC north. Despite it being and emotional wager, I figured the Pack would give them a tough game since it is a huge rivalry, plus I only bet 20 bucks.
After placing the bet, I again found myself playing video poker. I hit some good hands and cashed up about 50 bucks. I decided to try my luck at Pai Gow again, and lost my whole buy-in fairly quickly, but offset that loss with 4 or 5 budweisers. I was on a little bit of tilt because I hit up the ATM and dumped 60 bucks into a slot machine, polishing off another beer in the process. At this time, my girlfriend had texted me that she was shopping. I declined the invitation to join her, and kept on playing-dumping more money into the slot machine. Luckily, she made it back to the casino and we had a pre-dinner drink at the 'heart bar.' Our waitress had enormous tits and a pimp decked-out in red sat alone at a table nearby.
We caught a cab to McCormick and Schmick's for dinner. I had clam chowder and then salmon stuffed with spinach and brie. All around, everyone agreed the dinner was great. Over the course of dinner, I was sweating the football game. The Packers blew a lead, missed the winning FG, and the game went to overtime. We stuck around and had another drink at the bar and caught the end of the game. Bears kicked a FG in overtime-bittersweet, I won my bet, but the Pack didn't help the Vikes out.
We took a cab back to the PH and our driver complained that he had been working all day and we were only his 5th fare. I don't doubt it, Vegas seemed pretty much dead. The cabbie figured it was a combination of the time of the year/week and the crappy economy. We headed up to the room for a bit, and after my girlfriend decided to take it easy, I headed down to gamble a bit. I hit the casino floor and before I even knew it a dark-haired woman hopped out from a slot machine and asked me "are you looking to party?" I was kinda surprised by her approach and I politely declined. Over the course the next few hours, I saw a few other hooker/potential trick interactions. All obviously occurring right in plain view on the casino floor. In my previous trips to Vegas I have never seen hookers being so forward and out in the open. Maybe, it is a sign of the slow time of year and pisspoor economy. It affects everyone from the cabbies and hookers, all the way to the Billionaire's who got fucked over by Bernie Madoff.
I decided to play let it ride, a game that I had no experience playing in the casino. I played conservatively, but ended up hitting some huge hands as the next hour went on. I turned my 100 buyin into 350 or so and called it a night.
Friday, January 02, 2009
The Hustle - Vegas part I

We arrived in Vegas about 1030pm local time after 3 hour flight which seemed more like 5 hours with the constant turbulence. I used my VIP card to bypass the slow-as-molasses rental car line and we were soon heading our way up Las Vegas Blvd. We valeted the car at Planet Hollywood and we were happy to see no line for check-in. I decided to attempt the '20 dollar trick' and see if we could get a room upgrade. The male clerk immediately pocketed the 20 bucks and set us up in a resort vista room. Predictably, the rooms at PH are themed after movies and our room theme was "The Long Kiss Goodnight" starring Samuel L Jackson and Geena Davis. The room was very nice with a King bed, 52" flat screen TV, his and hers vanity, large tub and separate shower and a view of the strip.
The whole process from getting off the plane to checking into the hotel was so efficient that I decided to go gamble for a bit. I sat down at one of the bars and played a bit of video poker ending up 40 bucks after hitting a straight flush. I cashed out and sat down at a pai gow table. I had a horrible time at this table. I didn't win a hand for about an hour, and after I won a few a few dealer rolled over everyone at the table and I left, losing most of my buyin.
My girlfriend and I got up in the morning and met her mom and sister at the Peppermill for breakfast/lunch. We decided to walk since it was such a nice day. As we were almost there, we were approached by a rough looking woman standing outside a CVS. She asked us if we had "3.75 for tampons." We were both so fucking flabergasted that we just kept on walking without saying anything. I think that woman needs a new hustle. We went inside the Peppermill and I absolutely destroyed an eggs benedict.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wee!
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.
Registration code: 031036
The code above will look like the following:
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Election Night

Given how much emotional stake I had put in this election, I felt surprisingly calm on Tuesday day with the exception of the 5 o'clock hour. That is when the blogs became a-twitter with the rumored exit polling numbers. First, some demographic stats. Then gawker released a handful a battleground numbers that turned out to be incorrect. Drudge leaks +15 for Obama in PA....and then Gawker shows some updated results with much better margins for Obama. My girlfriend and I went to an election night get together at a bar in Virginia Highlands, but we left around 9pm because it was hard to follow the action on the TV at the bar. Not too long after we got home, they called OH for Obama and that was pretty much all she wrote. The rest of the night was spent texting and calling family and friends in celebration. I wish I could have mentally recorded the entire night in my head to play over when things aren't so rosy politically and otherwise. Now, we get to see if Obama can become the kind of president that all of us who voted for him, hopes and believes he can become. The night is something that I'll never forget, the sense of history is undeniable and there was several points in the night where I nearly broke into tears because of how monumental the occasion was. Who would have ever thought it would happen? The history notwithstanding, Obama has some serious work to do. The economy is in the shitter, we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a lot of people are going to be waiting for him to fail. Ultimately, he will fail in some regards. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but I think he has demonstrated the intelligence and demeanor to become a very successful leader. I hope i am right.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The wheels are coming off.
Robert Draper writes,
I’ve heard from one well-placed source that McCain has snubbed her on one long bus ride aboard the Straight Talk Express, to the embarrassment of those sitting nearby.
This sounds like the kind of working relationship you'd want to have between a President and his number two.
In any event, some of these events and others got me to thinking about the future of the Republican party, especially if they receive the beating some people are forecasting. Will it be a death blow or just a temporary lull. Speaking in the short-term, I would certainly expect the R's to bounce back to some extent during the 2010 midterm election. That just seems to be the nature of the beast, of course there are some exceptions. However, given the demographic changes that will be occur over the next few decades, the Republican party as we know it appears to be in serious trouble.
Courtesy of the US census bureau, this table shows the projected US population by race from 2000 to 2050. Given how voting typically shakes out by race, it's clear to see that the Republican base of today is going to get proportionally smaller. It would seem to me that the party is going to have to do something to appeal to a broader mix of races to have any chance of winning. And if this presidential campaign is any indicator, they are a long way from achieving that.
Friday, October 24, 2008
For future reference
Here’s my 'Republican guide for how not to fake an assault in order stir up fear of blacks and scare people into voting against Barack Obama.'
1) Don't detail your immediate pre-assault activities on Twitter or Myspace in order to make the story more believable. It will look awfully suspicious to anyone with half a brain.
2) Don't scrawl perfectly formed letters on your own face while looking into the mirror. They will look backwards to others.
3) When making said letter on your own face, you might want to make it look a bit messy for that implies some sort of struggle.
4) Black eyes typically co-occur with some swelling. Thus, if you give yourself a fake black eye, you better be prepared to punch your own eyes to make them swell.
5) If the cops show up, you need to have ice water in your veins or otherwise they'll catch on. Don't act all weird and refuse medical treatment. The cops are not as stupid as you might think. They've seen it all. You might be able to fool the people at Fox News or knuckle-dragging right wing bloggers, but us bipeds will figure it out.
6) Don't stage it in front of a place that might have security cameras unless you are going to claim you were assualted by an invisible abberation.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
You're committing voter fraud, no YOU are.
Really? Well, today the Obama campaign called bullshit on this phony "voter fraud" issue being raised by the McCain camp. The first thing we need to realize about this issue is that there is a long history of voter suppression efforts (caging, misinformation, intimidation) on the part of the Republican Party. The reason is simple, if the Republicans can prevent certain groups of people from voting, namely the poor and minorities, they greatly improve their chances of winning elections. One way they have tried to prevent people's votes from counting has been to make spurious last-second voter fraud claims, which they are doing again. The Bush administration put immense pressure on various state U.S. attorney's to investigate these, and other, claims around the time of elections in November, presumably with the hopes of swaying the election. Some of the attorney's didn't bow to this pressure and therefore 9 of them were fired. These politically-motivated firings then led to an investigation, which then resulted in many of Bush's cronies in the DOJ being relieved of their duties including Alberto Gonzales (who couldn't remember his own fucking name during the investigations).
As the memo states, the DOJ has the responsiblity to consider the allegations of "voter fraud" being made in the context of what the Republican Party has been doing for years and in the context of the criminal firings of several U.S attorney's and the investigation that followed. Folks, I am not making this stuff up. The McCain camp is pulling out all the sleazeball tactics Bush and other Republicans have been using for years. However, this year will be different.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Ladies and Gentleman....Public Enemy Number 1!

It's become almost sad to watch John McCain shed his last bit of dignity by going after Obama's "association" with Bill Ayers. Anyone with a few minutes can find out the truth about any of this. Obama served on an anti-poverty board for a few years with Ayers during the mid-90s. Ayers donated 200 bucks to his senate campaign and while the 2 appeared at a few public events together, there is no evidence of a close relationship. This whole thing becomes deliciously absurd when learning that the activities of this board were funded by Leonore Annenberg billionaire widow of Walter Annenberg, and John McCain supporter. By the same rationale used by the McCain/Palin campaign, she was not only "palling around" with a terrorist, she was funding them. Despite this, McCain was so freakin' happy about her endorsement that he made it public. This is all just a crock of shit of course, and it is starting to piss some of McCain's party members off enough for them to speak out on this. You wonder what the long-term effect of McCain's poorly run campaign and impending landslide loss will be on the Republican party. A good old landslide will have to make them re-assess just what their party stands for. You'd think the smart one's are going to realize that the party is going to be in shambles if they don't make significant changes. Of course, the religious right will vote for them no matter what, but that group is going to do nothing but shrink in terms their share of the USA's overall demographics. 30 years from now, the party better have figured out a way to appeal to a more diverse group or else they are fucked.
